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Nearly 100 years ago, Jimmy Myrick, a 14-year-old Newfoundland boy, was one of the first people to hear RMS Titanic’s late-night distress call.

The transmissions from the stricken vessel and the resulting bustle of activity at the Cape Race Marconi Station that occurred after Myrick alerted the station’s wireless operators to the impending disaster will be re-enacted on April 14 as part of the 100th anniversary of the world’s most fascinating marine tragedies.

David Myrick, a relative of young Myrick and a ham radio operator, will participate in the re-enactment.

More than 1,500 passengers and crew went to an icy grave in the frigid North Atlantic in the early hours of April 15, 1912, when the ship sank about 350 nautical miles off of St. John’s, N.L.

"Jimmy Myrick was in the wireless shed the night of Titanic. He had to run out of the shed and get the radio operators," said Larry Daley, a member of Cape Race-Portugal Cove South Heritage Inc.

A non-profit group, the organization is devoted to raising the profile of the vital role the Cape Race-Portugal Cove South area played in spreading word of the disaster.

The Cape Race radio station was the first land-based site to receive word of the White Star liner’s pending disaster, caused when the famous ship collided with an iceberg. It relayed the news by radio to other ships at sea and to the local telegraph office, which alerted Europe and the rest of North America.

"They were bombarded that night," Daley said as he explained how the Newfoundland radio operators sent and received messages from those participating in the rescue and recovery efforts.

The transcripts of those messages are part of the Titanic exhibit at Halifax’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

Many events are going on around the world marking the centennial of the Titanic’s sinking, including a commemorative cruise out of Southampton that will retrace the Titanic’s course.

When MS Balmoral reaches the spot where the Titanic sank, it plans on transmitting a message to the Cape Race radio station, where a radio operator dressed in period clothing will receive the Balmoral’s transmission.

The ship-to-shore recreation is just one of a number of Titanic-themed events organized by Cape Race-Portugal Cove South Heritage Inc. for April 14 and 15. More details can be found on the group’s website receivingtitanic.com.

Daley has been involved in Titanic-related tourism for years, first as a tour bus operator out of St. John’s and later selling bottled iceberg water. He now does the logistics for many Titanic expeditions.

In 2003, he was invited to participate in a scientific expedition and got to visit the wreck in a submersible.

"It was very emotional," Daley said as he recalled the moment he saw the ship.

The small sub’s search lights turned on "and here’s the bow of the Titanic sticking out of the sea floor. . . . The visibility was perfect."

Daley spent about four hours floating around the wreck observing the stern, the bow and the debris field.

"It was intense. It seemed like only 15 or 20 minutes."

He remembers seeing personal items including a hairbrush and a pair of shoes.

"It just hits you like a ton of bricks that you are at a gravesite where over 1,500 people lost their lives."

Daley is now an agent for company offering tourists submarine visits to Titanic for somewhere around $60,000. For upwards of another $40,000, Daley offers high-end luxury add-ons including a helicopter ride from St. John’s to Newfoundland’s iceberg alley, where travellers can get visit icebergs and even take home a chunk.

The package includes a side trip to Halifax to see the various Titanic graves and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic’s Titanic exhibit.